Free Democratic Party of Germany

The Free Democratic Party (FDP) is a liberal political party in Germany that was founded in 1948. The party was founded by former members of the German Democratic Party and the German People's Party, and the party was active in both East Germany and West Germany upon its foundation, following the policies of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany in East Germany and opposing the CDU/CSU union in the west. The party was seen as a secular alternative to the Christian democratic CDU/CSU union, and it supported big business, social welfare, healthcare, social security, a bracket income tax system, and gay rights. The party moved towards the center from the center-right over the years, and it had 55,000 members in February 2017, holding 94/1,855 State Parliament seats and 3/96 European Parliament seats (going unrepresented in the Bundestag).